Policy Roundup No. 117 - November 20, 2014

HEALTH
Japan to adopt new strategy on dementia care: Abe
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on November 6 at an international conference on dementia care in Tokyo that Japan will work out a new national strategy to boost measures dealing with the age-linked illness in the rapidly graying country. “By enhancing our nation’s measures regarding dementia, not only the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare but the entire government will work together to support the lives” of people suffering from dementia, Abe said on the final day of the two-day event that saw experts from around the world discuss prevention and treatment of the progressive neurological condition.  Full article.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND FAMILY PLANNING
China's Maternal Mortality Declines 70%: Report
Maternal mortality in China had declined 70 percent by 2010 compared with two decades ago, according to a new report released in Beijing on November 4. "In the past two decades, we have made remarkable achievements in lowering the maternal mortality rate," said Zhang Yang, deputy-director-general of the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China (NHFPC), adding that the development of midwives' services was the cause of this decline. Full article.

Eight Women Die in India After Botched Sterilizations
Eight women are dead and dozens of others were hospitalized after they underwent sterilization surgery as part of India’s population-control program—highlighting the risks of a government campaign that annually pays millions of poor women to undergo the operations. Public-health authorities said the women suffered fevers and pain after a surgical team performed a laparoscopic procedure on 83 women on November 8 at a hospital in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The deaths and complications are under investigation. Full article.

GENDER
Pakistan: NA panel unanimously adopts bill allocating more seats for women
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs unanimously adopted a billon Sunday to amend the political parties order and proposes a minimum allocation of 10 per cent general seats for women and a 33 per cent quota of women in general councils. The private members’ bill, introduced by Dr Nafisa Shah and Dr Azra Fazal Pecheco aimed at ensuring meaningful representation for women in the political process. Full article.

India: National consultation on violence against women
A national consultation process will be held in January to evaluate the current progress in combating violence against women and improvise possible new solutions to the problem. The consultation will be held in the run-up to the Beijing 20 global review scheduled next year and will be attended by civil society organisations and government officials, a release said on November 6. Full article.

PNG failing to record domestic violence cases
A hospital administrator in Papua New Guinea's Jiwaka Province says the country's health system is failing to record the prevalence of domestic violence cases in the country. Scott Dooley looks after the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital where he says domestic violence makes up the majority of injuries treated. He says the scale of the problem is just not being represented by the health system. Full article.

Nepal: Clarion calls for gender-inclusive civil code
Seeking legal recognition to the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual) community and their demands for the right to marry, lawmakers have registered proposals to amend clauses on marriage in the civil code bill. The draft of the bill, tabled in Parliament on November 2, defines marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman as husband and wife. Based on that definition, any other clause that deals with individuals in a conjugal relationship omits to mention gender minority. Full article.

POPULATION DYNAMICS
Bangladesh: Urbanisation grows without guideline
The country’s towns and cities are largely being developed without policy guidelines. Unplanned urbanization is thus causing multiple problems for the city dwellers, not to speak of the government itself. A report published in the FE this week revealed that a draft national urbanization policy was prepared a decade ago. It was also placed before the cabinet in 2010. The cabinet sent it back for further scrutiny. Since then, there is no follow-up move for its approval by the authorities concerned.  Full article.

FEATURE AND ANALYSES 
“Ageing well” must be a global priority
A major new Series on health and ageing, published in "The Lancet", warns that unless health systems find effective strategies to address the problems faced by an ageing world population, the growing burden of chronic disease will greatly affect the quality of life of older people. As people across the world live longer, soaring levels of chronic illness and diminished wellbeing are poised to become a major global public health challenge. Full article.

Family planning drive reaches millions of women and girls
The number of women and girls accessing contraceptives in developing countries rose by 8.4 million last year, but efforts to bring family planning to millions of women who have not been reached are not moving fast enough, according to a report published on November 3. The Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) report, the group’s first set of annual data since its formation two years ago, found that the number of women and girls with access to contraceptives was still below FP2020’s projected benchmark of 9.4 million. However, widening access to family planning services helped avert 125,000 maternal deaths last year, compared with 120,000 in 2012, and avert 24m unsafe abortions, compared with 23m in the previous year. Full article.
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Dozens injured after train derails in Netherlands: emergency services --- Agence France-Presse

Malaysia scraps mandatory death penalty Deutsche Welle -- Deutsche Welle